Chapter Text
It's been six months. Since the end of their friends deaths. Since the end of the Mutual Killing. But not since the end of despair. Despair still comes back to haunt them. There are memories that trigger nightmares that keep them up at night. They remember the terrifying past, but they have been trying to move towards the hopeful future. They've been working together to try to create a future, better than any fate from the real world. But it's not easy. There have been despair filled memories flooding their minds, making it difficult to concentrate. They have been expecting, hoping for their friends to come back, but day after day, they never do. They have also been having disagreements. After six months of living with the same people, who all have different values, it gets tough. From the minute they stepped foot onto this island, there has never been a dull moment. From tortured screams to despair filled sobs, they deal with a lot on a daily basis, but the Future Foundation has been helping them through everything. Before they left, they gained ways to contact them.
Naegi was walking to the boat when he suddenly pulled Hinata over. Naegi had a white box in his hands.
"Hey, Hinata! Can I talk to you for a second?" he said.
"Yeah sure," Hinata answered, walking over to where Naegi was standing.
"I wanted to thank you guys for saving us. You really did a nice job," Naegi said with a small smile on his face.
"It was tough on all of us.. And my head.. I have a pounding headache," Hinata laughed.
Naegi joined into Hinata's laughter and guided him to a curb to sit down.
"You guys should try to take it easy. Having been through the same thing, I talk from experience when I say this," Naegi said.
"Oh right! I forgot that you guys went through the same thing! It was in a school though, right?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah.. It was.. Traumatizing.." Naegi said, grimly.
"I can imagine.. You went to school with them before.. Uh.."
"Yeah.. But none of us knew it.. So.. One after another.. They all died in front of our eyes."
".. If you don't mind me asking.. What was it like for you guys? You never had access to sun.. Or fresh air.. Or anything for that matter.. And.. This may be pushing it.. But, can you tell me a little bit about the murders and executions that happened?" Hinata asked.
"Well.. The way my classmates were murdered wasn't nearly as complicated as your murders.. People were stabbed, there was a lot of head trauma, and a suicide. Then.. The executions.. Well.."
Togami, who had been walking to the boat stopped in front of us.
"One was beaten with baseballs, another turned to butter, one was burned and crushed my a fire truck, and Naegi here was nearly squashed. Are you done here?" Togami said bitterly.
"Togami!" Naegi scolded.
"You were nearly crushed?!" Hinata exclaimed surprised.
Naegi looked at the ground with an embarrassed expression. "W-well.. I.. I didn't murder anyone but.."
"Junko tried to kill him. Need I say more? Naegi, we need to leave," Togami said.
"Okay, I'll be there in a second."
"Hurry up," Togami said, walking away.
"Hey, Hinata. I don't want to lose contact with you guys so here," Naegi said handing the white box to Hinata.
Hinata opened the box to find a bunch of small boxes. He couldn't concentrate enough to realize what they really were.
"Are they.. Cellphones?" Hinata asked holding one up.
"Yeah!" Naegi said taking one out of the box and turning it on. "Everyone has a cellphone for themselves. There are fifteen, if you were wondering. If your friends wake up, they each get one as well." The screen flashed on. "This one is Souda's." He pressed another button and a contact list flashed onto the screen. "Important numbers are already programmed into the phones and the laptops at the tech shop are in working condition. When you turn on the phones and laptops, you are going to see twenty one numbers and six emails; Mine, Togami's, and Kirigiri's, as well as our other friends Fukawa's, Asahina's, and Hagakure's. They're part of the Future Foundation too, and were part of the school killings. We told them what was going on, so you can contact them as well as us. On occasions, we will text you guys and ask for reports. If anything strange happens, or anything you guys feel is important, please let us know. The TV's in your rooms are all working. There are a few working channels.""Naegi! Let's go!" Togami called from the boat.
Naegi stands up and begins to walk towards the boat while motioning for Hinata to follow. He follows behind.
"Don't be alarmed when I say this, but the cameras are still working. We are going to leave them on to make sure everything is going okay here. Like we said, it's possible for your friends who have "died" to come back. If something like that happens, get in contact with us immediately," Naegi explained.
"Naegi!" Togami yelled.
"Okay just one second!"
Togami rolled his eyes and began to talk to Kirigiri.
Naegi continued talking. "A lot is going to happen on this island, and it's going to be hard trying to cope. But please, stay hopeful and help each other out."
Naegi put his hand on Hinata's shoulder.
"A lot is going to happen, and we won't always be there to help. You're going to have to depend on each other from now on. I'm sure you guys can handle it though."
Naegi put his hand out like he was about to shake Hinata's hand.
"It was really nice meeting you again Hinata. I know you guys can do it. Keep hope alive, and if you need anything, we're a phone call away."Naegi and Hinata shook hands.
"Thank you Naegi," Hinata said.
"Naegi come on!" Togami yelled impatiently.
"I'm coming!" he called back. "Bye Hinata."
And after that, the Future Foundation trio left. Hinata went back to see if his friends were okay. When Hinata had gotten up to escort the Future Foundation to the boat, he left the rest of his friends in the pod room. They were dead tired and they weren't up to standing up. Hinata had felt a bit better than the rest of them and volunteered to escort them out. When he came back into the room, he found his friends exactly where he had left them: laying in their pods completely distorted. Sonia had her hand on her chest, Fuyuhiko had a hand on his forehead, while Akane and Souda rubbed their eyes. Hinata found that his friends didn't look much different from when they had stepped out of the simulation. Fuyuhiko still had his eye patch and Souda still had his bright pink hair. The only difference was their clothing. The girls were both clothed in white dresses that resembled nightgowns that reached the bottom of their knee. The boys all wore white t-shirts with white sweatpants. Naegi said he had no idea why they woke up dressed like that, but they all agreed that it wasn't the worst thing.
Fuyuhiko groggily tried to sit up in his pod, but he couldn't hold himself and, if it weren't for Hinata, he would have fallen.
"Thanks Hinata," he said weakly.
Hinata propped Fuyuhiko up on the wall of his pod. Fuyuhiko's eye patch stuck out like a sore thumb. He had a thick scar running down the top of his right arm, but Hinata wasn't sure if it had been there before considering he always wore long sleeves. A small part of the scar from his eye stuck out from under the eye patch. He still had a baby-like face, but he still looked a bit older.
"How come you don't feel like crap and we do, Hinata?" Souda asked angrily from his pod.''
"I, uh, I don't actually know," Hinata said.
Souda still had his bright pink hair sticking out from underneath a white hat, which looked just like his old one. His sharp teeth hadn't changed, but there was a small scar underneath his eye, which Hinata knew for a fact hadn't been there. Just like Fuyuhiko, he looked slightly older.
Akane was groaning from her pod, which was on the other side of the room away from everyone else.
"I feel like I was hit by a bus," she said moaning. Hinata walked over and propped her up like he did to Fuyuhiko. He rubbed her shoulder trying to make her feel a bit better. Akane looked exactly the same. There were only two small differences: there was a bandage on her left kneecap and once again, she looked a bit older.
"I feel the same way," Souda said.
"Do you want to sit up too, Souda?" Hinata asked.
"Would you mind helping me?" he said embarrassed.
Hinata walked over and helped him sit up. He, unlike Akane, actually helped Hinata by trying to sit up.
"You good?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But Sonia hasn't said anything since you came in, so maybe you should check on her," he said pointing at Sonia's pod.
Hinata walked over to find Sonia asleep in her pod. Her hand was on her chest while her hair was spread out behind her in all different directions. It reminded Hinata of the Sleeping Beauty. Sonia looked the tiniest bit older and had a bandage on her right elbow. Her braid was still in her head with a white bow sitting on the top of her head. Everyone else in the room seemed completely stressed, and she wasn't aware of it. He saw her chest rise and fall, so he didn't have to worry about her. He knelt down and took her hand from her chest.
"Sonia," he began saying. "You okay?"
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at Hinata.
"Hm?" She said quietly.
"You okay?" Hinata repeated.
She nodded her head slightly and said nothing.
"Wanna sit up?" Hinata asked her.
She nodded her head and began to sit up a little bit. Hinata let go of her hand and hoisted her up and propped her against the wall of the pod.
"Thank you Hinata," she said quietly. Hinata could tell that she was still very tired, but she didn't seem to feel nearly as terrible as the others. She gave him a small smile as she pushed her hair behind her hair.
"Sonia, how did you fall asleep?" Fuyuhiko asked. "I mean, we've been talking since we woke up."
"I don't really know," she said. "I was tired I guess."
Everyone began to laugh. It had been a long time since they were able to genuinely laugh altogether. Hinata finally felt like everything was normal again. He felt like there was no more tension, and that they could finally all trust each other. He was overjoyed looking at everyone's happy faces.
Hinata sat down on the edge of his own open pod.
"Anyone feel up to going to our cabins?" Hinata asked with a thumbs up.
"I still feel like hell," Fuyuhiko said leaning back.
"Me too," Souda said. "Hinata, can you check the pods and make sure no one else is awake?"
"Sure thing," Hinata said getting up.
The Future Foundation had made it very clear that we needed to check on the pods every now and then. There was an alarm system set up on the island to alert us when someone was awake. The pods are shut, and when the person inside wakes up, they're usually too weak to open them on their own. The alarm isn't guaranteed to work on everyone, so the Future Foundation had said to check on all of their sleeping friends every so often. Hinata looked over at the pod next to his own. He looked down to find an unusually peaceful Ibuki Mioda. She wore a white dress just like Sonia and Akane's. Her hair was still as vibrant as ever, but her eyes weren't open. Hinata kept going. Next he found Gundam, who wore the same clothes as every other boy in the room. His eyes were closed as well. As he kept going, he passed Koizumi, Teruteru, Mikan, Nidai, etc. until he found that no one else was awake. Everyone was wearing the same clothes.
"No one else is up," Hinata said.
"That stinks," Souda said. "I was hoping that someone else was up.""What we're not good enough for ya?" Fuyuhiko said.
"N-no that’s not it!" Souda said.
"Relax, I'm just joking," Fuyuhiko said. Souda looked at everyone sheepishly and everyone laughed.
"Well, it sounds like everyone is feeling a bit better, so how about trying to get to the cottages?" Hinata asked excitedly.
Fuyuhiko rolled his eyes and Akane pretended to gag. Everyone laughed again.
"If no one else will try, I will Hinata," Sonia said proudly.
"That's the spirit!" Akane said.
"Which none of you have," Hinata commented. It sent everyone into laughter again. Sonia wrapped her arm around Hinata's shoulder while he put his around her back. He hoisted her up and she stepped out of the pod. They took a couple steps with Hinata still holding her up. Then, she let go and walked a bit on her own. She stopped and leaned against the wall as Hinata did the same with everyone else. Everyone was on their own two feet in no time, and they headed to the cottages.
"Naegi said it may look a bit different from the simulation," Hinata warned.
"I don't see any differences," Fuyuhiko said. "Just looks a bit more, I dunno, run down I guess?"
They walked psat the Titty Typhoon. The letter "H" was on the ground, sparking. There were a bunch of spotlights all piled out in the front of the building. They were all broken.
"That place sure went down hill," Souda said jokingly.
"And guess who's going to have to fix it," Fuyuhiko said back.
"Aw come on! Really?" Souda moaned.
"I thought you liked fixing things," Akane said.
"Well yeah I do, but I'm just not feeling it right now," he said.
"I didn't mean you had to fix it now!" Fuyuhiko said. "When you feel up to it, you can fix whatever ya want."
Souda nodded his head in silence as they kept walking. They continued to walk until they came to the bridge. They all began to walk over it.
"Hey," Sonia began. "Hinata, don't you remember reading the pamphlet about the real Jabberwock Island? It said there had been a boat service to go to and from each island. It said that bridges weren't possible to make.""Oh yeah, I do remember now," Hinata responded. "Why would there be bridges here?"
Hinata thought for a moment. He had found a few differences since he had woken up, and Naegi had noticed them too. Hinata decided not to think too much about it. Akane stopped abruptly, and Hinata nearly ran into her.
"Akane?" he said.
Everyone in front of them turned around and watched Akane stare meticulously at the sky. Then she looked down and stomped her foot as hard as she could. Everyone looked around to see if anything was going to happen. After a minute, nothing happened and Akane shrugged and began to catch up with everyone.
"What was that about?" Souda asked.
"Just makin' sure it's real," she replied. "I want to make sure everything here is real before I get too comfortable."
Everyone nodded grimly in agreement. Everyone continued until they reached the cottages. Everyone found their pictures once again on their mailboxes. Hinata found that strange as well, considering the real Jabberwock Island hadn't held them before the simulation. Either way, the cottages with their pictures were their own cottages. Everything was in Hinata's room just as he had left it. His bed hadn't been made, and empty shelves were lined the corner of the room. The only difference was his old clothes were sitting on the bed. His shirt, tie, pants, and shoes. He ran to his drawers and found a bunch of new clothes in there, completely organized. He picked up a shirt and found that he was the same size. He then put the shirt back and ran to the closet, where a few outfits for fancier occasions were hung.
"What the hell was all of that!?" Hinata heard Fuyuhiko say from outside of his door. Hinata ran out to find Fuyuhiko and Souda both holding their old clothes as well.
"These were on my bed and the drawers and closet are fully loaded with clothes!" Fuyuhiko exclaimed. "What's up with that?"
Sonia and Akane ran out of their cottages too. "Did you all find new garments in your cottages as well?" Sonia asked.
"Yeah, I found my jumpsuit on the bed and the dresser was filled with a ton of stuff," Souda said.
"This is pretty weird guys. Who would've left this stuff for us? The Future Foundation?" Akane questioned.
"Maybe, but we can't ask them can we?" Fuyuhiko said.
Hinata then remembered what Naegi had said about contacting them before he left. "Yes we can. The laptops are working and Naegi gave me a box with cell phones in it," Hinata said.
"Where's the box?" Fuyuhiko asked.
"Aw man, I left the box at the docks."
"Aren't the docks around the corner?"
"Oh.. Yeah, oops."
Hinata ran over and grabbed the box from the dock. He looked out in the direction where the boat carrying the Future Foundation had sailed away. It's a really peaceful place isn't it, he thought. He then began to think about everything that had happened, from start to finish. Then in a split second, an image of Teruteru being pulled away flashed into his mind. Hinata blinked and looked around, but then it happened again. He saw Peko holding Fuyuhiko tightly as swords were driven into her. It repeated again, but then he saw Mikan, then Gundam, and finally Chiaki. Hinata had to sit down to compose himself. His mind drifted over to Chiaki. He thought of how she was always kind and caring to everyone around her. He remembered how Komaeda set her up, and how she still took her "punishment" graciously. He thought of her looking directly at him with a small smile on her face immediately before she was crushed by the video game block. He remembered her encouraging him during the last trial to create his own future. That was the last time he saw her, and he knew he would never see her again. He broke down crying softly to himself. He had lived in a messed up world, and then he finally ended it with his classmates. But he knew deep down that the messed up world they had previously lived in, wasn't gone. It would just continue, with more suffering.